My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Catholic Athletes for Christ (CAC) is a national organization that serves Catholic athletes in the practice of their faith and shares the Gospel in and through sports. The goal of CAC is for sports-oriented clergy and lay people to help Catholic athletes, coaches and staff to utilize the unique platform given to them to reach the world for Jesus Christ and his church.

I serve as Chairman of the Episcopal Advisory Board of CAC. Earlier this year I formed a steering committee to explore with me the process of bringing Catholic Athletes for Christ chapters into all of the Catholic high schools in our diocese. CAC is designed to provide student athletes, both boys and girls, with opportunities to embrace their Catholic faith and to be daily witnesses to their faith for others. For the past several months we have been working hard to implement my goal to have active CAC chapters in all of our Catholic high schools by the start of the 2014-2015 school year. Next month on Sept. 9 we will also be providing training for our coaches and athletic directors through a program called Sports Leader.

While all of our schools currently have some elements of prayer and service in their athletic programs for boys and girls, this program will be designed to instill all of the CAC values of charity, honesty, humility, meekness, moderation, purity, and sportsmanship in an on-going and regular basis in our athletes. CAC is not intended to displace any other faith-based students organizations, such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes, but to complement and work cooperatively with them.

Since Fellowship of Christian Athletes is more focused on scripture reading and reflection, Catholic Athletes for Christ will seek to provide the full complement of Word and sacrament. In this regard, I have asked the priests of our diocese to make themselves available as much as possible to provide sacramental ministry for our young people, especially to celebrate Mass and the sacrament of penance for our CAC chapters.

St. John Paul II, who played goalie in soccer as a youth, said that, “Every Christian is called to become a strong athlete of Christ, that is, a faithful and courageous witness to His Gospel.”

As St. Paul’s epistles teach us, Christ is God’s true athlete and we are made perfect when, and only when, we imitate him. In his Second Letter to Timothy, St. Paul wrote, “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7).

In Vatican City this past June 12, Pope Francis reminded all those in the 2014 World Cup of Soccer tournament that the attitudes and values they bring to the sports field should be carried out in all aspects of life. “Sport is not only a form of entertainment, but also — and above all,” the Pope said, “a tool for communicating values that promote the good of the human person and help to build a more peaceful and fraternal society.” The Holy Father spoke of the virtues that are involved in athletic competition, saying, “Let us think of loyalty, perseverance, friendship, sharing, solidarity. In fact, there are many values and attitudes fostered by soccer that are not only important on the field, but in all aspects of life, especially in building peace. Sport is a school for peace — it teaches us how to build peace.”

Pope Francis’ video message went on to highlight three lessons that can be drawn from sports and which represent three essential attitudes for the cause of peace: the need to train, “fair play,” and honor among competitors.

“Firstly, sport teaches us that to win, you have to train . . . . We can see in sport a metaphor for our lives. In life, you have to struggle, to ‘train,’ to strive to obtain important results. Sportsmanship thus becomes an image of the sacrifices needed to promote the growth of those virtues that build character . . . . And here a second lesson from sport comes to our aid: ‘fair play.’ To play as a team, it is necessary to think first of the good of the group, not of oneself.”

The final, third lesson that sport can provide for peace is respect between competitors. “The secret of victory on the field — but also in life — is learning to respect not only my teammates, but also my opponents. No one wins alone, on the field or in life! No one should feel isolated or excluded,” the pope said.

Please visit the CAC website, www.catholicathletesforchrist.org, for more information. I pray that this opportunity will take root in our high schools. We invite all of our youth to join us as an “athlete for Christ.”

May God give us this grace. Amen.